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Progressive (PGR) Falls More Steeply Than Broader Market: What Investors Need to Know

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Progressive (PGR - Free Report) ended the recent trading session at $238.61, demonstrating a -1.05% change from the preceding day's closing price. The stock trailed the S&P 500, which registered a daily loss of 0.55%. Meanwhile, the Dow lost 0.19%, and the Nasdaq, a tech-heavy index, lost 0.95%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the insurer had lost 1.2% lagged the Finance sector's gain of 2.06% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.64%.

The upcoming earnings release of Progressive will be of great interest to investors. The company is expected to report EPS of $4.53, up 26.54% from the prior-year quarter. In the meantime, our current consensus estimate forecasts the revenue to be $22.45 billion, indicating a 15.51% growth compared to the corresponding quarter of the prior year.

In terms of the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates predict earnings of $18.24 per share and a revenue of $87.4 billion, indicating changes of +29.82% and +16.37%, respectively, from the former year.

It's also important for investors to be aware of any recent modifications to analyst estimates for Progressive. These recent revisions tend to reflect the evolving nature of short-term business trends. Hence, positive alterations in estimates signify analyst optimism regarding the business and profitability.

Our research reveals that these estimate alterations are directly linked with the stock price performance in the near future. To take advantage of this, we've established the Zacks Rank, an exclusive model that considers these estimated changes and delivers an operational rating system.

Ranging from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), the Zacks Rank system has a proven, outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks returning an average of +25% annually since 1988. Over the last 30 days, the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate has witnessed a 3.32% increase. Progressive currently has a Zacks Rank of #2 (Buy).

With respect to valuation, Progressive is currently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 13.22. For comparison, its industry has an average Forward P/E of 11.37, which means Progressive is trading at a premium to the group.

We can also see that PGR currently has a PEG ratio of 1.36. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The Insurance - Property and Casualty industry currently had an average PEG ratio of 2.46 as of yesterday's close.

The Insurance - Property and Casualty industry is part of the Finance sector. Currently, this industry holds a Zacks Industry Rank of 37, positioning it in the top 15% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank assesses the vigor of our specific industry groups by computing the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks incorporated in the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Make sure to utilize Zacks.com to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and more, in the coming trading sessions.


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